The Main Building was the first building erected for the Georgia Normal & Industrial College. The laying of the Main Building cornerstone was celebrated with great fanfare on November 27, 1890 when Georgia’s prominent citizens, most of the state legislature, and Georgia Governor William J. Northen gathered for the cornerstone celebration. The building was constructed by an Augusta firm, T.O. Brown, and designed by Mc Murphy & Story. The building was opened and ready for use in 1891.

Invitation to the laying of the cornerstone 1890

The Main College Building Is situated near the centre of the twenty-acre lot given by the State for this purpose. It is a beautiful and commodious edifice four stories high, constructed in the best style of modern school architecture, with admirably arranged assembly-halls, classrooms, art and music rooms, cloak-rooms and closets. It is supplied throughout with water and gas. The hot-water system of heating, acknowledged to be the best in the world, is exclusively used, and the ventilation is in strict accordance with the best -known laws of sanitary science. The entire structure cost nearly fifth thousand dollars. It is used exclusively for reaching, or classroom purposes, and will accommodate three hundred and sixty pupils. Georgia Normal and Industrial College Catalog 1897-1898

By 1924 the Main Building housed the campus auditorium and administrative offices which included all of the college’s official papers and student records. In the morning of December 8, 1924 a fire began in the boiler room of the building. Students were evacuated from Parks Hall and Atkinson Hall. The building was destroyed by fire and all official college and student records were lost.

Main Building burning 1924

The Main building was a great loss to the college. The building continued to be listed in the 1926-1929 student catalog even after its destruction.

Main College Hall. This commodious building of four stories, situated in the center of the campus and forming a part of the original equipment of the College, was destroyed by fire, December 8, 1924. The corner stone, still preserved, of the building was laid on November 27, 1890, and it was completed in the following year. It was used exclusively for teaching and classroom purposes and for the administrative offices of the College. Georgia Normal and Industrial College Catalog 1897-1898

The cornerstone of the Main Building continues to be remembered at GC & SU. The stone rests between Parks Hall and Russell Auditorium. Black marks from the fire can be seen today on the garden side of Parks Hall. The Main Building cornerstone memorializes the founding of GN & IC, tying past celebrations to Georgia College & State University’s present and future.

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Sources of Information:

• A Centennial History of Georgia College by William Ivy Hair with James C. Bonner, Edward B. Dawson, and Robert J. Wilson III. Milledgeville: Georgia College, 1989.
  
• Georgia Normal and Industrial College Catalog 1897-1898
• Seniors 1926
• University Archives

• * Seniors 1926
• * University Archives Vertical File
• * Color Photograph by Val Nye